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Growth, carcass composition and profitability of broilers given post-finisher or free-choice grain cereal

Magolego, Tebogo Pearl (2001-03)

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2001.

Full text to be digitised and attached to bibliographic record.

Thesis

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Broilers of a mixed sex aged 4 weeks were used to determine whether feeding program
affected the performance and profitability of birds. The performance of the birds was
measured in terms of feed intake, live weight gain and carcass composition. Financial
analyses were carried out to determine which of the feeding programs would be
economically efficient in terms of feed cost per live weight gain.
The feeding programs followed were (i) a complete diet, (ii) free choice feeding of a
complete diet with cereal grains, and (iii) cereal grain fed solely. The treatments used were:
1) Post-finisher diet as a control,
2) Post-finisher plus cracked yellow maize,
3) Post-finisher plus whole wheat,
4) Post-finisher plus whole sorghum,
5) Cracked yellow maize,
6) Whole wheat and
7) Whole sorghum
The experiment was conducted over a period of four weeks divided into two phases of two
weeks each. During phase one the birds were divided into four groups. Three groups were
offered a complete diet and a cereal on a free choice basis, while the other group was fed on
a complete diet, which served as the control experiment. In the second phase of the
experiment, the three choice fed groups were subdivided into two groups each. The
subgroups were offered sole grains while the other groups continued with the treatments they
received in the first phase. All the diets were fed ad libitum. The results showed that there were no significant differences between treatments and the
control with regard to feed intake, live weight gain, and carcass composition in the first
phase of the experiment. During the second phase of the experiment, choice-fed birds had the
highest live weight gain in the order of PF + maize> PF + sorghum> PF + wheat, but were
not significantly different from the control group. Post-finisher plus maize fed birds had the
highest live weight gain and their carcasses contained low body fat. Sole grain fed birds had
lower live weight gains compared to the choice-fed and control groups in the order of wheat
> maize> sorghum. The live weight of the latter groups changed by a small margin from the
age of six to eight weeks. Of the three sole grain fed groups, the wheat fed group had the
highest live weight gain and their carcass composition showed lower levels of body fat.
Financial analyses carried out at the end of the experiment showed that, the group choice-fed
with maize had the lowest feed cost per live weight gain compared to the other choice-fed
groups and the control group. Among the sole grain fed groups, the wheat fed group had the
lowest feed costs per live weight gain.
It was therefore concluded, within the experimental errors, that choice feeding with any of
the grains or feeding the grains solely to broilers that have reached slaughter weight, has no
detrimental effect on the birds. The choice-fed birds performed better than the control group,
while the sole grain fed birds performed as good as the control group. Both the choice
feeding and sole grain feeding programs were economically efficient when compared to the
complete diet feeding program, in terms of feed cost per live weight gain